Conservative Bloggers Select The 25 Greatest Figures In American History

Out of all the titans in American history — Presidents and generals, inventors and entrepreneurs, reformers and revolutionaries — have you ever wondered who the best of the best were? Well, we here at RWN wondered about that, too, and that’s why we decided to email more than a hundred bloggers to get their opinions. Representatives from the following 44 blogs responded…

All bloggers were allowed to make anywhere from 1-20 selections. Rank was determined simply by the number of votes received. Also, it’s worth keeping in mind that this is a fairly conservative group of bloggers and their selections reflect that. Well, that’s enough about the rules — without further adieu, the greatest figures in American history are as follows (with the number of votes following each selection)…

Thoughts:
Washington and Jefferson are hard to deny a spot, but I feel they should both get knocked for not really doing anything to stop slavery. For me that would prevent either from being #1.
Benjamin Franklin should be #1 in my opinion.
Edison but not Tesla? Edison got the ideas out to the public, and he deserves credit for that, but Tesla was the true genius behind him, and Edison was by all accounts a much worse human being.
John Adams tried to become a king. He signed the Alien & Sedition Acts, the only time in history in which a peacetime president made dissent illegal. I can’t accept placing him on.
Henry Ford is also a morally insupportable choice in my view. Dude was a massive anti-Semite and a big financier of Hitler.
Jonas Salk is way too low. Guy saved millions of lives, he’s certainly greater than the Wright Brothers and I’d even place him ahead of Martin Luther King.
Audie Murphy? He’s the most decorated soldier of WWII and that is no small accomplishment but top 25?
Norman Borlaug is also too low.
John Wayne?!?! John Wayne?!?!?!?!?!